Paulo Lins

"These are two different worlds that have no contact with each other…The elite is ignorant of the favela because it doesn't want to see, and the favela doesn't know the rest of Brazil because it is dep…"

"Brazil is a racist country and a racist society…But the funny thing is that nobody will admit to being a racist, and that's the problem. Blacks in Brazil are always in an inferior, subaltern position,…"

"The world of the favela today is much more cruel than when I was growing up there or even as I show it in my book…If I were to write about the way things are today, I would start the book with a pile …"

"From the outside, the favela and everyone in it look the same, but there are various strata, and my family was one of those at the top of the pyramid…Below us were the garbage collectors, delivery boy…"